


Sprained Wings

by Hippomatrix



Series: Wayward Souls [2]
Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Black Star being a jackass, F/M, minor smut (but not really)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 08:06:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8659195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hippomatrix/pseuds/Hippomatrix
Summary: Maka didn't usually drink at college parties. Unless she was upset. And she was upset that Soul obviously didn't reciprocate her feelings. Why else would he be so startled at the suggestion that they were in a relationship?





	

**Author's Note:**

> You don't need to have read the previous fic, but it'll make more sense if you do. Basically this is a college AU in which Soul suffers from depression and in the previous fic he attempted suicide.

Maka had been bugging Soul to re-apply for classes this semester, but he wasn't sure if he could handle it. He'd dropped out of his classes for the first semester after his failed suicide attempt in an effort to focus on improving his mental health, but he didn't know if he had achieved that goal yet. He had started therapy and talking it out seemed to be helping, but it could only do so much. The real difference was the medication they had him on.

"They" being Maka and his psychiatrist.

Maka had set up the appointment and driven him to it, sitting patiently in the waiting room until Dr. Marie had called her in to share her perspective of what was going on. After talking to him alone then talking to him and Maka together, Marie had given Soul a diagnosis which didn't surprise him at all; she said he suffered from clinical depression. She'd prescribed prozac to him, and in the few months he'd been taking it she'd raised his dose from 10mg a day to 40mg, the maximum dose found to be effective. He was still waiting for it to fully kick in.

Maka was making sure he ate all his meals and took his medication daily. She had recruited Black Star into dragging Soul to the gym several days a week as well, telling him he needed to get out of the house and exercise. As much as he complained about it, Soul knew she was right. He didn't enjoy the workouts Black Star subjected him to, but he did feel a certain relief when he finished. Pushing himself physically helped relieve the stress on his mind.

* * *

"How've you been?" Tsubaki asked Soul, taking a sip from her cup then setting it down. "Maka told me you're applying for classes this semester."

Soul chuckled. "I've been alright. Still deciding if I'm ready for classes again, though."

Black Star whooped on the far side of the room as he won another game of beer pong, his voice audible across the crowded room. He was drunk off his ass and probably had enough alcohol in his bloodstream to be a fire hazard.

Maka frowned in Black Star's direction then glanced up at Soul. "I thought you said you applied earlier today."

"I said I was looking into it," he sighed. "And I am. Can you stop pressuring me?"

She glared at him. "I'm not pressuring you! I just want you to graduate college so you can actually have a future."

He snorted. "How am I supposed to graduate college if I want to fucking die all the time and everything feels pointless? I can't 'get better'  _and_ take on a full college workload at the same time."

Maka intertwined her fingers with his, switching her tone to be less confrontational. "And I get that, I really do, but you need to find normalcy in your life right now if you're going to make any progress. As much as you dread it now, you'll be glad to go to classes once you start. You're majoring in music, which you love. You'll enjoy it,"

She leaned her head against his shoulder. "I'm just trying to get you into a new rhythm, and part of that is having structure in your life. Please just try, for me."

He sighed. How could he say no to her when she was trying so hard? "Fine."

Tsubaki smiled awkwardly, but didn't have the chance to say anything. Black Star came out of nowhere and slung his arm around Soul, interrupting the conversation with his loud laughter. "I'm so amazing!" he exclaimed, practically yelling into Soul's ear. "I've won every challenge so far! The only one left is getting into Tsubaki's panties!"

Tsubaki glared at Black Star, taking the cup out of his hand and setting it down on a nearby counter. "All right, Mr. 'Almighty God', I'm cutting off your alcohol consumption." She grit her teeth in annoyance, then smiled apologetically at Soul and Maka. "I'm sorry, but you know how he is. He's crazy enough without alcohol. He shouldn't be allowed to drink."

"Aw come on!" Black Star protested. "I'm not so bad! You know you love me!" He waggled his eyebrows at her in what he probably thought was a seductive manner. It wasn't. He just looked ridiculous.

Tsubaki sighed. "Against my better judgement, I do, but I'm still annoyed at you. Don't talk about me like a piece of meat, especially not in front of our friends."

"She wants me," Black Star whispered to Soul, not realizing he was still talking pretty loudly.

Maka frowned. "You do know we can still hear you, right?"

Black Star smirked and leaned closer to Soul, lips splitting open in a shit-eating grin as he continued his stage whispering. He gestured to Maka's hand, still entwined with Soul's. "You know what I'm talking about, Evans."

Tsubaki pulled Black Star off of Soul. "Alright, that's enough," she huffed. "I'm taking you home."

He grinned and gave Soul a double thumbs up. "Looks like we're both getting lucky tonight!"

Tsubaki scoffed. "You're not 'getting into my panties' tonight, you drunk idiot."

"What?! Does Maka do this to you?!" Black Star exclaimed. "Withhold sex?!?"

Soul choked on his drink. "What?!" he sputtered, still coughing. "Why would you- I mean-"

Black Star laughed. "Dude, it's so obvious! You two have been fucking since high school! You think I didn't notice?!"

Maka squeaked indignantly. "We have not! I haven't-"

Tsubaki smacked Black Star upside the head. "That's enough from you. Say anymore and you won't 'get lucky' for a month." She glanced apologetically at Maka and Soul. "I'm really sorry. I'm going to take him home now, before he does anything else."

Maka stared dumbstruck as Tsubaki guided the drunk Black Star through the crowded room to the door and left.

"You okay?" Soul asked. 

Maka nodded hesitantly, then untangled her fingers from his, trying not to think about how he'd choked on his drink at the very though of having sex with her. "Yeah, I'm good. I think I'm just gonna go get another drink." _Or fiv_ e, she thought.

* * *

Soul looked over his class application form for the new semester, trying to decide if submitting it was the best decision or if it would be better to wait until next year. Undecided and frustrated, he set the paper aside on the coffee table and glanced over at Maka. She was sitting next to him, staring at him.

"What?" he asked.

She blinked slowly. "What?"

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Maka climbed into his lap clumsily, circling her arms around him. She rested her head on his chest.

He tentatively touched her shoulder. She wasn't normally this cuddly. "Maka? What's going on? Are you okay?"

"No," she sniffled, looking up at him as her eyes teared up.

He opened his mouth to respond but stopped abruptly when she leaned up to kiss him, her lips pressing sloppily against the corner of his mouth. She cursed softly and tried again, this time successfully covering his mouth with hers.

Shocked, Soul pulled away, pressing his palm against her lips when she moved back towards him to continue the kiss.

"Maka, what's going on?" He asked again, dazed.

A tear rolled down her cheek and she shook her head, bringing her hands up to cover her face. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I thought-" she hiccuped, then shook her head again. "I don't know."

Soul stroked her back, noting how her words were slightly slurred. He decided to pretend like it hadn't happened. She probably hadn't meant it anyways. "It's okay. You'll feel better tomorrow when you're not so drunk."

"I'm not drunk," Maka protested, moving her hands away from her face and sitting up only to loose her balance. He steadied her with an arm around her back as she gripped his shoulders to keep herself from falling over.

He smirked, glad she was arguing about her sobriety instead of the kiss. "Sure you're not. But it's okay."

"No it's not," she cried. "It's not okay! This whole time I've been here for you and I could never tell you how I felt because if I was wrong, it would ruin everything, and you needed me."

She swiped her hand across her face. "I couldn't have feelings for you because of what you were going through. It wouldn't have been fair to make it about me when you were the one who was so clearly struggling. I convinced myself it was just a crush, and that it would pass, but it _didn't_ , and I know it's not fair because my problems are so small compared to yours, but this has been hard for me _too_. And then you told me you loved me and then it turned out you were just saying that because you thought those would be your last words to me, and then I told you I loved you, but we never talked about what it meant, and I'm so _so_ sorry this is all my fault."

She started sobbing harder. "How could I be this _stupid_? I went and ruined our friendship because of a stupid crush!"

Soul wrapped his arms around her and leaned his forehead against hers, looking her in the eyes. "It's not stupid. Your feelings matter, too, and you haven't ruined anything."

He brushed her hair out of her face. "I have thought about it," he said hesitantly, "about... _us_ , but there was no way for me to know if I really wanted to be with you or if I just really needed someone and you were there. Either way, I didn't want to get closer because I knew I was gonna die. I'm sorry."

She sniffled. "But you're not gonna die. I stopped you! You're better now!"

He tried to smile but couldn't quite manage it. For all she tried to understand, she still didn't quite get it. "But I still want to die, Maka. I'm sorry, but it's true. This is the way I am, and it's not gonna change anytime soon, even with me trying to get better." Soul's voice cracked as tears started dripping down his face as well. "I'm broken. Why do you want me?"

She blinked up at him through her tears. "Because I love you."

Finally, his resolve cracked. He leaned forward and kissed her, soft and tentative. His tears mixed with hers as their faces brushed against each other. She wrapped her arms around his neck, tangling her fingers through his hair, and pulled him against her with a stubborn determination, deepening the kiss into something needy and demanding.

Maka tugged clumsily at the hem of Soul's shirt, breaking apart from him and leaning back so he could pull it off. She hastily pulled hers off and tossed hers to the floor as well. She pressed herself against his bare chest and stared at him in awe, fingers exploring the smooth muscles of his back.

His fingers fluttered over her hips before settling on her lower back. She leaned up and kissed him hard. He parted his lips to kiss her back. Her mouth was warm and soft against his and she tasted like wine and desire.

Maka tasted like wine because she'd been drinking. And now she was drunk.

He pulled away. "We can't do this right now," he said, breathing heavily.

She ran her fingers over his stomach, making his abdominal muscles twitch, and planted an open mouthed kiss on his neck. "Why not?" she murmured into his skin, her fingers moving dangerously lower to dip under his waistband.

Soul pushed her away gently. "You're drunk. And we're moving too fast. Do you really want to rush into this? Have sex on the same night as our fist kiss? We should talk about this when you're completely sober."

Maka fumbled with the zipper of his pants and frowned up at him. "I don't want to wait," she whined.

He pulled her hands off of him and picked her up, carrying her into their room despite her protests that she was fine. He plopped her down on the bed and pulled the covers over her, tucking her in. He kissed her forehead and brushed her hair out of her face. "We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Maka grumbled something incoherent but relented, snuggling into the blankets. She was asleep within minutes. Soul sat on the edge of the bed and watched her, feeling conflicted.

He was worried she'd wake up in the morning furious at him for kissing her. What if she'd just been really drunk? What would this do to their friendship if it turned out this had just been a momentary lapse of judgement on her part? He knew he'd been clearheaded the whole time; he hadn't had any alcohol that night because he wasn't supposed to drink while on meds.

But had Maka been lucid enough to really mean what she'd said, or had she just been upset? He shook his head as if doing so could clear his mind and went to the couch to settle in for the night.

* * *

Maka woke up with a pounding headache and groaned. How much had she drunk yesterday? Her mouth tasted terrible and her head felt heavy.

Soul came into the room and handed her a glass of water and some ibuprofen. "Maybe next time don't drink so much," he joked, ruffling her hair.

She sat up and glared at him as she gulped down the pain meds and her water. "I didn't drink _that_ much."

A few drops of water dribbled down her chin and onto her chest and she noticed she wasn't wearing a shirt. Her eyes widened as she realized last night hadn't just been an especially pleasant dream, and her face flushed bright red. " _Shit_ ," she muttered, pulling the covers up around her chest.

Soul took the empty water glass from her hand and set it down on the bedside table. "It's not a big deal," he said. "You were just drunk."

She looked up at him in horror and he took a step back, awkwardly running his fingers through his hair. "Relax, we didn't do anything," he said. "Well, we did kiss- but that's it. Don't worry. I wouldn't take advantage of you while you're drunk."

She covered her face with her hands and made a distressed noise. She'd thought it was just a dream, but now that she realized it wasn't she kept thinking about the way his muscles had twitched under her fingers and how delicious it had felt to be pressed against him. She groaned again, willing the incident out of her mind. "I'm so, so sorry."

Soul chuckled uncomfortably. "It's okay, you were just drunk, it doesn't have to mean anything."

She looked up at him, pain clear on her face. "So it didn't mean anything to you?"

"Of course it did!" he stammered, sitting down on the edge of the bed and staring at the wall awkwardly. "But my feelings aren't the only ones that matter! I'm not saying I didn't feel anything, I'm saying how you feel is more important. If you didn't mean it that's fine. I don't want to force you into anything out of pity."

Maka frowned. "I told you I loved you, didn't I? Why would you think I didn't mean it?!"

He bit his lip and looked up at the ceiling, willing himself not to cry. "I don't know! Maybe because you felt lonely and I was there, or because you weren't thinking straight!"

She touched his shoulder as a few tears started to drip down his face. "Soul, I may have been drunk, but I meant everything I said."

He turned to face her and she pulled him into an embrace, arms wrapped tightly around him. "I love you," she whispered.

Soul choked out a sob. "I'm sorry," he whispered back.

Maka sighed, tracing her fingers over the faded scars on his arm. She pressed a kiss to his wrist, tracing her lips over his most recent scar, then looked up at him and wiped the remaining tears on his face away. "I'm not."

His eyelids fluttered closed and he leaned towards her, barely brushing her lips with his own in a hesitant kiss. Sensing his tentativeness, Maka pressed her lips more firmly against his, deepening the kiss. She slid her fingers under the hem of his shirt, exploring his bare back and pulling him closer to her. Soul did nothing to deepen the intensity, content to just cradle her face in his hands and kiss her. He wanted to take his time, to savor this.

Maka tugged at his shirt impatiently and broke apart from him, breathing heavily, to pull it off. She yanked it over his head and tossed it to the floor, grinning as she pulled him flush against her, tugging at his arms to make him wrap them around her waist. She slid her hands up his back and gripped his shoulders, pressing herself as close to him as she could. She relished the feeling of his bare stomach pressed against hers, her breasts pressed against his chest, but she was annoyed that she was still wearing a bra. She wanted to be as close as physically possible with nothing between them but skin.

Leaning back, she unhooked her bra and tossed it aside, looking at him nervously as her impulsiveness caught up to her. What if this wasn't what he wanted? What if she wasn't what he wanted? "I know they're not very big," she stammered, biting her lip.

Soul gazed at her reverently. "They're perfect," he said, pressing a kiss to her neck. "You're perfect."

She smiled with relief and pulled him back against her, guiding one of his hands up to cup her breast. She traced the scar tissue on his forearm as he gave her a gentle exploratory squeeze, and tilted her neck to give him better access to it. "You're perfect, too."

He smiled against her shoulder and started kissing his way up her neck to her pulse point. Maka grinned as his lips tickled over her skin before planting an openmouthed kiss against her pulse, causing her to gasp. She laughed breathlessly then winced as it sent a sharp pain through her head.

He pulled back and looked at her with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said, wincing again as the pain resurfaced. "I'm fine." 

Maka moved to kiss him again but he stopped her. "You're hung over and you have a headache. You're not fine." He pulled aside the covers and slid into bed next to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back against his chest. She craned her head to look at him and pouted, but he didn't relent. Soul just laughed and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Take a nap first. Sleep it off. Then we'll talk."

Relenting, she snuggled against him and closed her eyes. "Fine, but when I feel better we're going to continue this."

He smiled. "I'm looking forward to it."

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if you were expecting more smut. Consent is iffy if either person is drunk. If you can't drive drunk, you can't consent to sex while drunk either. Also I'm asexual so I don't really get how any of the attraction stuff works. Tell me if it's unrealistic.
> 
> update 8-30-18: lmao I'm on 80mg of Prozac a day now. If I there's ever an apocalypse and I can't get my meds anymore my chances of survival will plummet drastically


End file.
